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oaktree2
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Coroner concern over nurse training
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7664617.stm
Oh dear. This coroner is right to be concerned.
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10/Oct/08, 22:37
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Dave1510
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Re: Coroner concern over nurse training
The full story is here (http://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/3746607.Coroner_s_damning_verdict_on_lethal_injection_death/)
A CORONER today blasted the training given to a student nurse who gave a 91-year-old Whiston Hospital patient a lethal injection of drugs.
Christopher Sumner, the coroner for St Helens , launched the criticisms as he ruled that Edna Alker died as a result of ‘a preventable consequence of a necessary medical procedure'.
Mrs Alker from Orrell in Wigan died after student nurse Rebecca Riley injected her with a fatal dose of potassium chloride.
Ms Riley was a third year student at Liverpool John Moores University and was within one week of completing her studies.
Mrs Alker, who had been recovering from an abdominal operation had been transferred to Whiston Hospital from Wigan because her daughter, Gillian Edwards, a consultant anaesthetist, worked there.
The coroner Christopher Sumner said that Ms Riley had misunderstood the instructions of her supervisor Sister Karen Edwardson and without direct supervision administered much of the drug in one dose instead of it being drip fed into her system over the course of several hours.
Mrs Alker went into cardiac arrest and within 20 minutes she had suffered irreparable brain damage. She died the following day on September 26, 2003.
Delivering his narrative verdict at St Helens Hospital, Mr Sumner criticised John Moores University and the hospital.
He said that a ‘keynote lecture’ on IV Drug Administration at the university was not compulsory and there was no evidence that Ms Riley had even attended it.
He said: “Surely the administration of drugs is a skill to be ultimately learned by a student nurse and the implications of the effects of those drugs are essentials to be prioritised in the education and training of a student nurse.”
Dr Gillian Edwards said that she felt content after hearing a full account of her mother’s death and she said that the family were consoled by the amount of people who expressed regret.
She said that she was happy with the changes to procedures that have been brought in since her mother’s death, adding: “The chances of it happening again have been reduced.”
She continued: “There has been a gap in nurses’ education, when a student can get so close that she can inject a patient with a drug that she didn’t know anything about! As a patient I would question what was being done to me. Especially if it was a nurse!
“I think everyone knows that my mother was let down.
"It has been difficult to listen to the evidence over the last four days, but we now feel that there is a clean slate and we can move on. And my daughter feels the same."
Following the verdict, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust - which runs Whiston Hospital - issued a statement, which read: “This was a terrible tragedy and the Trust once again offers sincere condolences to Dr Edwards and her family.
“The Trust is reassured that the coroner’s verdict did not identify any shortcomings in the hospital’s systems or procedures.
“As a Teaching Hospital, the Trust recognises its responsibility to assist in the training and development of health professionals.
“We will continue to work collaboratively with our education providers to ensure that high education standards are maintained.”
---
"Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained" William Blake (1757-1827)
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11/Oct/08, 15:00
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oaktree2
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Re: Coroner concern over nurse training
I wonder what changes were implemented after this. All training establishments should be aware of this. I wonder what became of the student caught up in it all.
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12/Oct/08, 11:57
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mad jock
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Re: Coroner concern over nurse training
Not wishing to flog a dead horse but this does raise again (for me anyway) the whole issue of university training for nurses.
"key note lecture" whatever that means, NOT COMPULSORY????? NO RECORD OF ATTENDANCE?????
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13/Oct/08, 8:54
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Kittyxxx121
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Re: Coroner concern over nurse training
Why are students administering drugs without supervision. Why is anyone giving a drug they don't understand? Much badness all round.
--- Cause it's easier to fly,
There's a place that never dies in the southern sun,
Cause your love is on the run,
Let me out,
Set me free
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13/Oct/08, 11:26
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oaktree2
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Re: Coroner concern over nurse training
I don't remember giving drugs unsupervised as a student - there was always someone at your side watching what you were doing. They certainly shouldn't still be giving drugs unsupervised even if that was the norm previously. I'm not so naive as to believe that doesn't happen though. Five years to get to inquest is a long time though Uber I would agree.
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19/Oct/08, 11:55
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Kittyxxx121
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Re: Coroner concern over nurse training
Dave, the fact whether she knew it or not is irrelevant. She shouldn't have been administering medication unsupervised. The nurse in charge of that shift has a lot to answer for.
--- Cause it's easier to fly,
There's a place that never dies in the southern sun,
Cause your love is on the run,
Let me out,
Set me free
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30/Oct/08, 21:38
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